tsverrir wrote:On the pictures of this tea on puerhshop, to me the liquor seems a little misty. Is this normal for young sheng? Of course it could also be the image quality.

It new sheng can often times be cloudy. Sometimes it is a consequence of the leaves not being throughly dried before compression. Often times, sundried mao cha will also have this cloudiness since sun drying is not as efficent as ovens which a gain can cause uneven drying. That said, I will take a sun dried over oven mao any day!

If it is a good pu-erh, the cloudiness will typically clear up after a few years of aging.

The dry leaves appeared to be stone pressed and had a heavy floral and honey scent. Nice looking actually. No obvious defects.

The liquor was on the lighter side on the first and second infusion. Light in huigan but very nice on flavor. In fact it was quite delicious. The notes were somewhat metallic which had flutters of grass, dried apricot and melon. The liquor had a wondeful color which was very clear. There the 3rd infusion revealed more bitterness but far less than I would expect for a spring mao. Depending in which camp you belong to this could present a problem later. The Huigan became more noticable in the 3rd infusion, but not remarkable. The chayun was decent with nice mouth sensations. The ChaQi was up lifting.

Analysis - Well, I liked this tea. It was a good drinker. The wet leaves were beautiful! In fact, they are possibly some of the best I have seen in some time. I personally like my tea with a bit more acidity and bitterness as I believe it is essential for aging. When looking at the leaves, it appears that the mao cha mix was lacking in buds; especially for a spring harvest. Perhaps if the pick was a 2 to 1 bud system, it may have produced an exceptional beeng. If they did go this route, I didn't see it in my gaiwan. What I did see was some 2to1 and a mixture of larger leaves. But then again, it wouldn't be sold at the price that it is being offered would it! All in all, it was a decent tea.

Those spent leaves look remarkable- far more impressive than the usual mulch. Perhaps if the pick were a 2 to 1 bud system, it would be better for the long haul, but then it would be an entirely different animal. Nothing wrong with a decent tea for drinking today.

Those spent leaves look remarkable- far more impressive than the usual mulch. Perhaps if the pick were a 2 to 1 bud system, it would be better for the long haul, but then it would be an entirely different animal. Nothing wrong with a decent tea for drinking today.